Homage, Harmony, Heart
by moonswirl
Summary: Gleekathon, day one hundred and thirty-two: As Will is presented with his post-Sectionals win performance, he thinks about their journey... and Emma.


_Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a second cycle, and then a third, fourth, and fifty cycle. Now here's cycle 6!_

_Walking through a bookstore back in december, I saw the series of books by Sue Grafton that go "A is for...," "B is for...," etc, and I got the idea for this set. It will spread over the end of cycle 6, and carry through cycles 7 and 8, to be posted on alternating days. [And by the time we reach the end, Glee will be a week away!!] What I did is I found three words for each letter that would have some significance to Glee, and I built a plot around it. You with me? Okay, here we go...  
**8 of 26: H is for...**_

* * *

**"Homage, Harmony, Heart"  
Will, Will/Emma, Will/New Directions**

They wouldn't tell him the results. Emma had told him on the phone, as she had been informed, that the kids wanted to wait until they were all together again. Will had no choice but to agree, and so they'd hung up and gone home to get ready for… the wedding.

Every so often he would stop and think to himself just how crazy it was, to go to Ken and Emma's wedding, after everything that had happened, between the three of them, and Terri… But he'd gone anyway. He cared so much for Emma that he would sit there in support of her on her big day.

But then he'd gotten there and, among the simple décor, the adorned tables, he found no one but Emma, in her dance-able dress. In that moment, the two of them suddenly single, it didn't seem unreasonable to throw a line out to her, hoping she'd grab on to it and let him pull her in. Only she didn't… worse, she delivered even more heartbreaking news… She was leaving her job, leaving McKinley, leaving… him. He'd been unable to stop her.

When he'd finally met up with the Glee Club once again, he was presented with the fruit of many months of hard work, of growth, in more ways than one. He was made to sit as an audience of one, as intended, and compensated for the show he'd been made to miss. They could never know how much it truly meant to him.

He knew how crazy it was, at the beginning. There were just five of them: Rachel, who for all her talent could hardly see past it; Kurt, so very confident in most parts but hidden under others; Mercedes, always mighty but vulnerable too; Artie, who never let difference get in his way even if some would; and Tina, who had the talent but lacked the confidence to back it up sometimes. They were shaky on their first steps together, but he knew if they fought through it, then it would all steady.

When Finn was brought in, things had finally started to click. As uncertain as he could be, especially when it came to balancing Glee life and football, he had all the drive he needed in him, and it was something he'd share with the other five. They were a unit; they were ready to take on… anything. Maybe it was premature thinking that way, but he would be confident for all of them if he had to.

He wasn't thrown too much by Sue's threats… maybe a little when she pointed out their numbers would be too low to qualify. But then, in a flurry of red, white and black flippy skirts, in had come Quinn, Santana, and Brittany. He didn't know what to think at first, but they had performed, and they had something, that much was clear. He knew the girls to some extent, and as uncertain as he'd been when they'd first walked in, he could feel they would bring something to New Directions. So they'd gone from five, to six, and now to nine, even if for the first little while it felt more like six plus three, not a whole.

If the Cheerios had been a surprise, his next applicants were shock, and he was awed. It was only as he'd led Puck, Mike, and Matt to the Glee room that it dawned on him… these three made it twelve. If he could get all these kids to become a real club, erase the barriers still standing in between some of them, not only would he gain from it but so would they all.

He remembered his club. Between him, April, Marcus, the O'Donnell twins and all the others of course there had been differences, and with some of them there still were, but they had become something together. It got them trophies, but it also got them friendships and connections they wouldn't trade.

It was invitationals that had first shown they could get there. They could see it, could feel it, everything that they could do together. Then they'd done 'Somebody to Love,' and their fate was sealed… they were New Directions.

Over the next few months, they were tested… so many times. Every one of them was their own person, their own set of baggage. There was the baby drama, the infamous high school hierarchy… Sue… all along they rode highs and lows, and it seemed some of them would fall off, but it would always be in the end that they'd manage to pull each other back in.

He had grown to be so proud of them. All this time he'd spent, looking out for them, it would have been easy to say he was their teacher and it was his duty. But that wasn't it, not all of it. They shared something, all of them. They carried song in their heart and it was more powerful than everything they threw at them sometimes. They had something that could never be taken away from them, no matter what anyone said or did. They all shared it, and that made them more than a club. They were family… a family, thirteen strong…

Fourteen.

Emma… She was as much a part of this as any one of the kids and him. She'd been with them every step of the way. She'd recommended bringing in 'a couple of the popular kids,' she'd convinced him to stay, cheered them on before anyone else would. When he'd let losing Rachel get to his head so much he'd brought in April, she'd shown him it wasn't the right way… She'd been the ever-special guest judge and always honest sounding board. She was the one person he could trust to step in and take his place to bring the kids to Sectionals because he knew she understood… she had that song in her heart too.

But she was leaving…

When the kids had finished their song, he'd hurried to thank them… it continued to resonate in his mind as he ran off in search of Emma, before he lost the chance to do what he'd kept himself from doing for much too long.

When he got to her office, his heart sank in echo, in stillness… the office was empty, lifeless without her in it. Had he taken too long? Had he missed her? No… maybe she was still here, somewhere. He'd come too far, he wasn't going to abandon. If anything, perseverance had never steered him wrong, it wasn't going to start now, when he needed it the most.

He took off out of the office, trying to think rationally despite the irrational beat in his heart if she was leaving, would she go straight to the parking lot? Or maybe she'd stop in to see Erin, the art teacher, they were friends… No, the parking lot was better, if her car was still there… or gone…

He came around a corner and screeched to a stop. He hadn't seen her, but he swore it was like he could feel her, she was near. He looked around…

There she was, just as the first day, with her box… he'd found her, just in time…

THE END


End file.
